New Yorkers said farewell to Lt. Gordon Matthew Ambelas on Sunday, the firefighter who died the night before combating a high-rise blaze in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood.

"He died a hero — that's how he lived," Eric Bischoff, a fellow firefighter, friend, and former roommate, told The Associated Press. He described Ambelas as "truly one of the best human beings that anyone would ever want to meet."

A preliminary investigation showed that the fire was likely started by a pinched electrical cord in a cluttered apartment on the 19th floor of the 21-story building. Ambelas, a 14-year veteran of the FDNY, was one of the first responders, and became trapped in the apartment. The 40-year-old firefighter was carried out of the blaze unconscious, with injuries that would ultimately prove fatal.

"They were performing CPR [on him] as the firefighter was coming out the door," witness Alexander Lantiqua, 47, told the New York Daily News. "They were screaming to get out of the way."

In total, more than 100 firefighters responded to the fire, which was cleared by 10:30 p.m.

The New York Times reported that Ambelas was a model firefighter, and had just two weeks earlier been presented with a plaque after using the so-called "jaws of life" to save a boy named Mendy Gottlieb, who was caught by a security gate and pulled 15-feet off the ground. He had also responded to the scene of the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001, and to the floods caused by Hurricane Sandy.

Ambelas is survived by his wife Nanette and two children. He is the first FDNY firefighter to die in the line of duty since Lt. Richard Nappi, 47, of Engine 237, in 2012.

Purple and black bunting was hung above the bays of the firehouse, and will remain there for the traditional 30 days to honor the fallen firefighter.